 Japanese Painting
Japanese painting (Kaiga) is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese arts, encompassing a wide variety of genre and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the history Japanese painting is a long history of synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of imported ideas.
Ancient Japan
The origins of painting in Japan date well back into Japan's prehistoric period. Simple stick figures and geometric designs can be found on Jōmon period pottery and Yayoi period (300 BC – 300 AD) dotaku bronze bells. Mural paintings with both geometric and figurative designs have been found in numerous tumulus from the Kofun period (300-700 AD).
With the introduction of the Chinese writing system (kanji), Chinese modes of governmental administration and with the introduction of Buddhism in the Asuka period, many art works were imported into Japan from China and local copies in similar styles began to be produced.
Asuka and Nara periods (538–794)
With the spread of Buddhism in 6th and 7th century Japan, painting of religious imagery flourished to decorate the numerous temples erected by the ruling classes. However, Nara period Japan was more especially way more strongly characterized by the art of sculpture, rather than painting.
Heian periods (794–1185)
With the development of the esoteric Buddhist sects of Shingon and Tendai in 8th and 9th century Japan, religious imagery, most notably painted Mandala, became predominant. Numerous versions of Mandala, especially the Diamond Realm Mandala and the Womb Realm Mandala, were created as hanging scrolls, and also as murals on the walls of temples. A noted early example is at the five-story pagoda of Daigo-ji, a temple south of Kyoto.
Kamakura periods (1185–1392)
The Kamakura period was marked by a gradual shift in power from the nobility to landowning military men in the provinces. This era was a time of dramatic transformation in the politics, society, and culture of Japan. The bakufu, or government by warrior chieftains (shogun) or their regents, controlled the country from their base in Kamakura, near modern Tokyo. Because the emperor remained the titular head of state in his capital in Kyoto, a binary system of government, whereby emperors reigned but shoguns ruled, was established and endured for the next seven centuries.
Legends of the Kitano Shrine
(Kitano Tenjin Engi),
Kamakura period (1185–1333),
13th century |
Kano Masanobu (1434–1530)
Japanese, Muromachi period (1392–1573),
late 15th–early 16th
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Muromachi period (1392–1573)
During the 14th century, the development of the great Zen monasteries in Kamakura and Kyoto had a major impact on the visual arts. Suibokuga, an austere monochrome style of ink painting introduced from Sung and Yuan dynasty China largely replaced the polychrome scroll paintings of the previous period, although some polychrome portraiture remained – primary in the form of chinso paintings of Zen monks.Typical of such painting is the depiction by the priest-painter Kao of the legendary monk Kensu (Hsien-tzu in Chinese) at the moment he achieved enlightenment. This type of painting was executed with quick brush strokes and a minimum of detail.
Azuchi-Momoyama period
In sharp contrast to the previous Muromachi period, the Azuchi Momoyama period was characterized by a grandiose polychrome style, with extensive use of gold and silver foil, and by works on a very large scale.
Edo period
Many art historians show the Edo period as a continuation of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Certainly, during the early Edo period, many of the previous trends in painting continued to be popular; however, a number of new trends also emerged.
Meiji period
During the Meiji period, Japan underwent a tremendous political and social change in the course of the westernization and modernization campaign organized by the new Meiji government. The Meiji period was marked by the division of art into competing western styles and traditional indigenous styles.
Taishō period
The Taishō period saw the predominance of Yōga over Nihonga. After long stays in Europe, many artists (including Arishima Ikuma) returned to Japan during the Taishō period, bringing with them the techniques of impressionism and early post-impressionism. The works of Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne and Pierre Auguste Renoir influenced early Taishō period paintings.
However, yoga artists in the Taishō period also tended towards eclecticism, and there was a profusion of dissident artistic movements. These included the Fusain Society (Fyuzankai) which emphasized styles of post-impressionism, especially fauvism. In 1914, the Nikakai (Second Division Society) emerged to oppose the government-sponsored Bunten Exihibition.
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Painting of Taisho era
(1912 –1926) |
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